In Act V, we see Jonson's notion of poetic justice begin to play out as Volpone's fake symptoms become real. Of course, even if his condition is psychosomatic, it foreshadows the punishment handed down by the Avocatori in 5.12. And the dramatic...

A comedy of humours focuses upon the four humours that the Greeks believed were responsible for human health and emotion. In essence, this means that if any of the body's functions were out of balance, the body and its mental state would be out of...